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History and Romance 

of 

"Old Glory" 



History and Romance of 



-Old Glory" 

by 
ALLAN SUTHERLAND 




Published by 

STRAWBRIDGE & CLOTHIER 

PHILADELPHIA 






Copyright 1914, by 
STRAWBRIDGE & CLOTHIER 

Philadelphia 



©CI.A375680 

JUN 22 1914 



a 



OLD GLORY" 



Flag of the fearless-hearted, 

Flag of the broken chain, 
Flag in a day-dawn started, 

Never to pale or wane — 
Dearly we prize its colors, 

With the heaven light breaking through, 
The clustered stars and the steadfast bars, 

The red, the white, and the blue. 

—MARGARET SANGSTER 



One hundred and thirty-seven years ago — 
June fourteenth, 1777— "Old Glory," by act 
of Congress, was first unfurled to the breeze 
as the National Emblem of the United States 
of America. 

The story of its birth will always be near 
and dear to the heart of every true American 
— a story that will never grow old.* 

The quaint little house at 239 Arch Street, 
Philadelphia, in which the first American flag 
was made, is still standing. 

In 1774, pretty Elizabeth Griscom, of an 
excellent family, and then twenty-two years 
of age, became the wife of Lieutenant John 
Ross, the grandson of the Rev. George Ross, 
formerly a Presbyterian clergyman of Scot- 
land, who came to this country in 1703, settled 
in New Castle, Delaware, and became an 
Episcopal rector. Soon after their marriage, 



* While the authenticity of this version is not completely estab- 
lished by official records, this account of the origin of the flag 
is generally accepted as correct. 



they began the upholstery business in the Arch 
Street house (the building material of which 
is said to have been brought across the water 
in the "Welcome" by William Penn). Young 
Ross was a member of a local military com- 
pany and an enthusiastic patriot. He devoted 
much of his time to the cause dear to his heart, 
while his wife successfully carried on the busi- 
ness during his absence. 

For a time all went well in the quiet little 
house, in spite of the rapidly gathering war 
clouds. But the happy union was destined to 
be soon broken. On a chill Winter night, 
some two years after their marriage, the young 
patriot kissed his wife affectionately and went 
down to a wharf along the Delaware to guard 
some powder stored there. Shortly after, an 
explosion took place, and he was mortally 
wounded. He was carried to his home, where 
in spite of tenderest care and nursing he died, 
and was buried on the 20th of January, 1776, 
in the historical burial ground of Old Christ 
Church. The sorrow-stricken wife bravely 
faced the future alone, and determined to 
continue the business established by her 
husband. Being an unusually expert needle 
woman, she did not lack for patronage. 

About this time interest began to be mani- 
fested in the important subject of having a 
flag to represent the infant nation. George 
Ross, a member of Congress from Pennsyl- 
vania, was made chairman of a committee ap- 
pointed to recommend a design for a flag. It 
is said of him "wherever weakness was trodden 
down by strength he fearlessly lent his aid." 
Being an uncle of John Ross, who had recently 
lost his life in his country's service, and natur- 
ally much interested in the struggling young 



widow, he suggested to his committee that 
they consult with her in reference to the busi- 
ness entrusted to them. Accordingly, accom- 
panied by General Washington, the committee 
called on the youthful seamstress. 

When shown a design which had been ten- 
tatively agreed upon, Mrs. Ross was asked if 
she could reproduce it. Her cheerful response 
was, "I do not know, but I'll try." Observing 
that the stars in the design contained six 
points, she called attention to the fact, and 
suggested that it would be better to make them 
with five points. While Washington agreed 
with her, he stated that many stars would be 
needed, and since it was easier to make six- 
pointed ones, it would be better not to make 
a change. By way of answer, she quickly 
folded a bit of paper and by a deft clip of her 
scissors made a star of five points. 

It is easy to imagine the joy in the little 
Arch Street house when the news was received 
that Congress had adopted the design, and that 
the widow was authorized to make a large 
number of flags. 

But this did not end the romance of the 
little flag maker. The very next day after 
Congress adopted the flag she was married in 
Old Swedes Church, Philadelphia, to Captain 
Joseph Ashburn, who was at that time engaged 
in the merchant marine service. Captain 
Ashburn's vocation kept him at sea the greater 
part of his time, and the burden of carrying on 
the flag-making business fell upon his wife. 
In 1781 his vessel was captured and he was 
taken a prisoner of war to England and incar- 
cerated in the Old Mill Prison, Plymouth. 
Here he found an old friend, John Claypoole, 
and they whiled away many a weary hour in 



conversing of home and loved ones beyond the 
sea. Great was their joy when they received 
news, through a newspaper baked in a loaf of 
bread, of the surrender of the British General, 
Cornwallis, at Yorktown, and they looked 
hopefully forward to the time of their release. 
But disease broke out in the prison and Cap- 
tain Ashburn fell a victim to its ravages and 
died on the 3rd of March, after a brief illness. 
His faithful companion and friend, John Clay- 
poole, carefully treasured the few effects and 
all the love messages of the departed patriot; 
and when his own release came soon after, he 
was the first to bear to the bereaved wife and 
his two children the news of their loss. 

On the 8th of May, 1783, Mrs. Ashburn and 
John Claypoole were married in Christ Church 
and for three years made their home in the 
Arch Street house. The rigors of confinement 
in the English prison left their dread effects 
upon Mr. Claypoole's physical organization, 
and at the comparatively early age of forty- 
five he was stricken with paralysis; thence- 
forth until his death, August 3, 1817, he was 
practically helpless. 

Mrs. Claypoole continued the business of 
flag-making until 1812, when, at the age of 
sixty, she retired in favor of her daughter, 
Mrs. Wilson, who continued the business until 
1857. Thus, mother and daughter were en- 
gaged in making flags for the long period of 
eighty years. 

Our pioneer flag-maker died on the 30th of 
January, 1836, at the advanced age' of eighty- 
four. She is buried in Mount Moriah Ceme- 
tery, Philadelphia, and here on Memorial Day 
flags and flowers are strewn upon her grave. 



Early American Flags 

Prior to 1777 the various American cruisers 
carried all sorts of State or Colonial flags, until 
the intrepid John Paul Jones, as senior First 
Lieutenant, hoisted the "Flag of America" 
with his own hands over Commodore Hopkins' 
flagship, the "Alfred," when she was lying in 
the Delaware, at Philadelphia, in December, 
1775. Even this was really a private ensign, 
the design of which is not known, but that it 
embodied the spirit of patriotism and the pur- 
pose of the colonists there is no doubt. 

The first striped flag was raised at Wash- 
ington's headquarters, Cambridge, Mass., Janu- 
ary 2, 1776, and was saluted with thirteen 
guns. 

Professor Dwight says that the Naval 
Committee of Congress presented to Paul 
Jones the first official flag of the United States 
that was ever made. Mr. Buell, in his "Life 
of Paul Jones," says that the captain displayed 
the new flag on the "Ranger" on the Fourth 
of July, 1777, and made a special trip for that 
purpose from Boston to Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, where the vessel was being fitted 
for sea. 

"OLD GLORY" FIRST RECOGNIZED. 

On the 2nd of February, 1778, Captain John 
Paul Jones had the great satisfaction of seeing 
the Stars and Stripes "recognized for the first 
time and in the fullest manner by the Flag of 
France" by salutes first to the "Ranger" and 
later to the "Independence" of Jones' fleet. 
This was probably the first recognition by any 
foreign power of the colors of the United 
States of America. Jones received his appoint- 
ment to the command of the "Ranger" on the 



very day that our national flag was adopted 
by Congress. He said "That flag and I are 
twins. We cannot be parted in life or in 
death. So long as we can float we shall float 
together ; if we sink, we shall go down as one." 

It was not until later years, however, that 
the endearing term "Old Glory" was applied 
to the "Stars and Stripes." 

Captain William Driver was, without doubt, 
the first man to christen our flag "Old Glory." 
He was born at Salem, Mass., March 17, 1803. 
When about to sail from that port in com- 
mand of the brig "Charles Doggett," in the 
year 1831, he was presented with a large 
American flag. As it was sent aloft, and broke 
out into the breeze, Captain Driver christened 
the beautiful emblem "Old Glory," and this 
was the name he ever after used for it. His 
flag shared with the Captain his perils and 
adventures of the deep, and on his retirement 
from the sea it was taken by him to Nashville, 
Tennessee, where he made his home. 

The Captain was a most pronounced "Union 
Man," and his outspoken fondness for the flag 
made him widely known as "Old Glory 
Driver." During the Civil War his neighbors 
naturally felt a special desire to have that 
particular flag. The Captain's home and 
grounds were repeatedly searched, but in vain. 
They knew it was there, but find it they could 
not. The old Captain told them they should 
see it only when it floated over a united coun- 
try. In order to keep it safe until that 
longed-for time, the Captain with his own 
hands quilted "Old Glory" into a comforter 
and made it his bed-fellow. When peace was 
restored, true to his promise, Captain Driver 



took the flag to the Capitol Building in Nash- 
ville, and it was soon waving over the city. 
As he saw it once more unfurled, the old man 
exclaimed, "Now that Old Glory is up there, 
gentlemen, I am ready to die." 

In 1882 — just four years before his death — 
the Captain gave the beloved flag to his niece, 
Mrs. Cooke, with directions for her to do wi«:h 
it as she thought best after his decease. She 
afterward presented it to its present care- 
takers, the Essex Institute of Salem, Mass. 
So, after all its voyages and vicissitudes, the 
original "Old Glory" is to-day safe in the very 
harbor from which it first sailed away eighty- 
three years ago. 

A DISPUTED QUESTION. 

When the flag was first used in battle is a 
subject of much dispute. On a bronze tablet 
in Rome, New York, marking the site of Fort 
Stanwix, renamed Fort Schuyler, now Utica, 
New York, is this inscription: 

"A fort which never surrendered. Defended 
August 6, 1777, by Colonel Peter Gansvoort 
and Lieutenant Marinus Willett. Here the 
Stars and Stripes was first unfurled in battle." 

While at Cooch's Bridge, near Wilmington, 
Delaware, there is a monument which is thus 
inscribed : 

"The Stars and Stripes was first unfurled 
at Cooch's Bridge on September 3rd, 1777. 
Erected by the patriotic societies and citizens 
of the State of Delaware, September 3rd, 1901." 

It is known, however, that Washington's 
army carried the new-born flag when, in 1777, 
he repulsed Cornwallis on the banks of the 
Assumpsic. It floated amid the smoke and 
roar of the battle of Brandywine in Pennsyl- 
vania, on September 11, 1777, about five weeks 



after it is said to have been raised over Fort 
Stanwix ; it shared in the glory and gloom of 
the Battle of Germantown, Philadelphia, on 
the 4th of October of the same year; it flut- 
tered in the breeze at Burgoyne's surrender 
at Saratoga; it witnessed the unparalleled 
sufferings and privations at Valley Forge, 
the humiliation of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 
and the evacuation of New York by the 
enemy in November, 1783. 

JUNE 14th, 1777, GENERALLY 

ACCEPTED AS AUTHENTIC. 

It is officially stated that "no satisfactory 
evidence has ever been produced to prove that 
a flag bearing the union of stars and stripes 
has ever been in public use prior to the resolu- 
tion of June 14, 1777," although it is true that 
the thirteen stripes in alternate white and blue 
appeared in the standard of the Philadelphia 
Light Horse as early as 1775 ; and that the flag 
representing the thirteen colonics, raised at 
Washington's headquarters in Cambridge on 
the 2nd of January, 1776, "had the thirteen 
stripes just as they appear in the flag of the 
present day." 

"OLD GLORY" AND OUR SCHOOLS. 

The first recorded instance of the flag being 
raised over a school building is probably that 
of May, 1812, over the log schoolhouse on 
Catamount Hill, Mass. The second war with 
Great Britain was then threatened and the 
flag was raised in an outburst of patriotism 
and loyalty to the United States Government. 

But the great credit for the almost universal 
custom of saluting the flag in our Public 
Schools is undoubtedly due to a well-known 
Boston weekly paper. It began this work back 



in the '80s. Now it is estimated that practi- 
cally every school, including those in Porto 
Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines, thus honor 
"Old Glory" at the opening exercises. 

Every pupil rises and gives a military salute, 
then all together they slowly and distinctly 
repeat : 

"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the 
Republic for which it stands, one nation, indi- 
visible, with liberty and justice for all." 

NOW IN WASHINGTON. 

What became of the first flag made by Mrs. 
Ross is not known, but in the National Mu- 
seum at Washington is the first American flag 
ever hoisted over a ship of war. It is said 
to have been made in Philadelphia by the 
Misses Mary and Sarah Austin (who failed 
to put the thirteen stars on the field of blue 
according to the original design), and un- 
furled by the famous Paul Jones. This flag 
was presented to President McKinley by a 
Mrs. R. P. Stafford, a lineal descendant of 
Bayard Stafford, a young officer who served 
on the "Bon Homme Richard" and the "Ser- 
apis" when Jones commanded. He saved the 
flag at the risk of his own life and Captain 
Paul Jones presented it to him. 

PRESENT DESIGN PERMANENTLY 
ADOPTED. 

In 1812 a committee was elected by Congress 
to decide upon a permanent design for the flag, 
and the result was that the original thirteen 
stripes were again used, the stars being ar- 
ranged on the blue field in the form of a square, 
with one constellation for each new State. In 
1818 this plan was formally adopted by Con- 
gress, and the flag with its thirteen stripes, 



and stars corresponding in number to the 
States in the Union, became the established 
emblem of the Nation. 

Mrs. Reid, wife of the famous sea captain, 
and some of her young women friends, made 
the first flag of the new design. It was hoisted 
over the House of Representatives on the thir- 
teenth of April, 1818. The number of stars 
at this time was twenty, Illinois having been 
admitted that year. 

THE GROWTH OF TERRITORY. 

The dominion of the flag since its adoption 
less than a century and a half ago, has in- 
creased to 3,686,780 square miles, including 
continental United States, Alaska, the Philip- 
pines, Hawaii, Porto Rico, Guan, Samoa and 
the Panama Canal Zone. 

According to the last census, the population 
represented by the American flag numbers 
109,100,000 people. These include the four 
races of the world — white, black, yellow and 
red. The white population over which the flag 
holds sway composes 87.9 per cent, of the total, 
11.6 per cent, are African, 3 per cent, are red 
or Indian, and 2 per cent, are Mongolian or 
yellow. Most of the natives of Alaska are 
Mongolians. Those of the Philippines are 
chiefly Malay, and of Porto Rico, African. 

The flags of only three nations — Great 
Britain, Russia and China — represent a larger 
number of people than does the American 
emblem. The commerce under the American 
flag extends to every quarter of the globe. 

While the British flag is the only one on 
which the sun never sets, the American flag 
is a close second, it having been proved by 
calculations made by the United States Naval 
Observatory that from the 22nd of March to 



the 22nd of September the sun shines con- 
tinuously in the eyes of the American eagle. 
This astronomical fact brings a realization of 
how great a nation we have become. 

The most Eastern point in the dominions of 
the United States is in the island of Porto 
Rico, and the most Western point is in the 
island of Balobe, in the Philippines. On the 
22nd of March the sun sets on Balobe Island 
at exactly the same time that it rises in Porto 
Rico, and this condition continues until the 
22nd of September. 

Between May 31 and July 13 the sun rises 
on the easternmost point of Maine at the 
same time that it sets on the westernmost 
Aleutian Island off the coast of Alaska. The 
Spanish War, which added to our island pos- 
sessions, lengthened the time of continual sun- 
shine from a month and a half to six months. 

At Cape Barrow, the northernmost point of 
Alaska, the sun does not set at all from May 
31 to July 13, for the reason that Cape Bar- 
row is within the Arctic Circle, so it follows 
that during this interval the sun never sets on 
any flag that flies in the Arctic. 

EARLY FLAGS ON AMERICAN SOIL. 

The first flag ever planted on American soil 
was the one borne by Columbus in 1497, that 
blazoned forth the arms of Leon and Castile. 

The French flag was unfurled in America in 
1554, and when Sir Walter Raleigh, fifty years 
later, took possession of the country which he 
named Virginia in honor of his queen (Eliza- 
beth), he hoisted the standard of her majesty, 
and the ruddy lions of England were quartered 
with the lilies of France. 

Then the Dutch flag was planted in New 



York in 1624, and from that time until the 
adoption of the Stars and Stripes there were 
many changes in the manner and appearance 
of the ensigns used. 

The flag at the time of the Revolution had 
thirteen stars; in the War of 1812, fifteen; in 
the Mexican War, twenty-nine; in the Civil 
War, thirty-five, and in the Spanish-American 
War, forty-five. The number to-day is forty- 
eight, arranged on the blue field in six rows 
of eight stars each. 



THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. 

(Written by FRANCIS SCOTT KEY on the day the 
British withdrew from the attack on Fort McHenry.) 

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, 
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's 
last gleaming, 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' 
the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gal- 
lantly streaming? 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting 
in air, 
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was 
still there. 

Chorus. 

Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet 

wave 
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the 

brave? 



On the shore, dimly seen thro' the midst of 
the deep 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread si- 
lence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the tower- 
ing steep 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half dis- 
closes? 

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's 
first beam, 
In full glory reflected, now shines on the 
stream ; 
'Tis the star-spangled banner, oh! long may 
it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of 
the brave! 

Oh ! thus be it e'er when freemen shall stand 
Between their loved homes and the war's 
desolation ; 
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n- 
rescued land 
Praise the pow'r that hath made and pre- 
serv'd us a nation; 
Then conquer we must when our cause it is 
just, 
And this be our motto, "In God is our trust." 
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall 
wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of 
the brave. 



"Two June Anniversaries ' 

This month is celebrated the one hundred 
and thirty-seventh anniversary of "Old Glory" 
and the forty-sixth anniversary of the Straw- 
bridge & Clothier Store. 

In dwelling upon the history of our national 
emblem, and all that it means to us to-day, 
seeking the underlying principles upon which 
we as a nation have builded, every line of 
thought leads unerringly to these two words 
—INTEGRITY, INDUSTRY. 

And likewise, in considering the governing 
factors in the growth of this establishment 
there can be found no other answer. 

With such men of sturdy, sterling character 
as William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, George 
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lin- 
coln and others of like stamp as preceptors of 
the infant nation, is it any wonder that the 
one-time pupil has developed so marvelously 
in power and influence among the great nations 
of the world? 

Character and integrity are greater than 
intellect — greater than genius; they command 
that which gold cannot buy — respect, confi- 
dence, friendship, real success. 

What the Strawbridge & Clothier organiza- 
tion has accomplished during these past forty- 
six years under the wise guidance of its 
founders and later of their sons, finds its source 
in the same fundamental principles which 
have made our country what it is to-day. 



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